Lafayette College’s English department has gained recent traction, demonstrating an increased interest among Lafayette students in majoring or minoring in English. In comparison, national data for colleges across the country show a downward trend in popularity for the major.
“The English major at Lafayette has a lot of momentum,” said Paul Cefalu, the current English department head. “I think relative to peer schools, we are doing extremely well.”
In comparison, national numbers appear to be trending down.
According to an essay from The New Yorker called “The End of the English Major,” the degree is in a “free fall,” citing a 17% decline over the last decade in English and history majors in a study done on humanities enrollment in the United States.
An article from the James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal also found that “English bachelor’s degree completion declined from about 7.6% of all degrees in 1971 to about 2.8% in 2021.”
The New Yorker claims that the rate of decline varies between job security, ability to pay off student loans and societal pressures.
According to Cefalu, Lafayette’s English department is comparably “healthy” due to a larger variety of courses offered to students and the flexibility to concentrate in either literature or writing.
A study by The Lafayette found that Lafayette had the second-highest percentage of graduating English majors in 2023 among most Patriot League colleges; these colleges had posted the class of 2023 graduation data in the most recent Common Data Set, a national annual study conducted by The Office of Institutional Research.
The class of 2023 had 4.3% of its students graduate with an English major, according to the Common Set Data. The college had a higher percentage of English graduates than schools like Colgate and Lehigh, with 4.1% and 1.3% respectively.
The college has also seen an increase in applicants declaring an interest in English, according to Dan Brown, the director of enrollment analytics.
According to Brown, applicant interest in English was 3.27% in 2020 but increased to 4.21% in 2021.
Despite societal pressures to pursue STEM-focused degrees, Cefalu still believes there are valuable skills attained from an English degree.
“English majors are good at analyzing texts and arguments, and at communicating their ideas,” Cefalu later wrote in an email. “These skills are always in demand in a range of fields and are attractive to law and business schools, and other kinds of graduate programs.”
In addition to the department’s popularity in majoring and minoring among students, the English program has also seen growth in its extracurricular activities and clubs.
Sigma Tau Delta, the college’s first English honors society, was established in July 2023, with its first members inducted that same year. Since then, around 20 people have been inducted.
Victoria Laccetti ‘25 was inducted into the society in the fall of 2023.
“I think it’s important to have an honors society because it gives students kind of an incentive, “ Laccetti said. “It’s a good thing to get involved in because you get to see other people in your major and interact with them, but it’s also good in terms of the future, like something to put on your résumé.”
The English Club — a group that reads literature and creative writing — has also seen an increase in participation. McKenna Graf ’26, the president of the club, believed this collaboration helped the English program regain momentum.
“The first meeting we ever had had the most people at a general body meeting that I think I’ve ever seen,” Graf said. “There were people there who wanted that space.”
Christopher Phillips, an English professor and former department head, agreed that extracurricular activities such as the honors society, English Club and Book Club have had a major impact on the department’s growth.
“I think a lot of it had to do with students deciding to take control of their own culture,” Phillips said. “Students have taken it upon themselves to really make that culture a great place to be.”
Phillips noted that some of the activities students have done include poetry readings and open mic nights.
“This is very much a field that students choose for themselves,” Phillips said. “I have never heard someone say, ‘I’m an English major because my dad said I have to.’ I think that there is a joy in students saying we get to do this and this is really, really fun.”
Andreas Pelekis ’26 contributed reporting.
